PORT HUENEME : RV Park OKd for City-Owned Beach

After six years of acrimonious debate, the Port Hueneme City Council agreed Wednesday to build a controversial 134-space recreational vehicle park on a city-owned beach.

However, the council’s decision may be overturned when a new council is seated next month, officials said.

Wednesday night’s action was possible because the California Coastal Commission granted the city permission earlier in the day to build the resort--accepting the plan after city officials agreed to move RV spaces further away from sensitive coastal wetlands.

The RV park would be built on a 10-acre beachfront site at the end of Ocean View Drive at Hueneme Beach Park. Under the modified plan, the resort has been moved 450 feet north of its original location, toward the municipal pier and away from the wetland habitat.

The city wants to build the park to boost city fees by $400,000 a year.

Tom Figg, city director of community development, called the Coastal Commission approval of the new plan “a major accomplishment” of the current City Council.

But the project is still vehemently opposed by environmentalists, who argue that it will harm plants, grasses and wildlife in the nearby wetland.

And the resort, which was a key issue in the recent City Council races, may never be built.

Two of the three newly elected council members--Jon Sharkey and Robert Turner--have promised to join forces with Councilwoman Toni Young to block the project.